Scrapbook Island

We’ve been dusting off the garden furniture and hanging our shade sails. Summer is on the way. Temps shot up overnight, with a high of 90 degrees (32C) in the forecast. There’s a dry wind blowing as well, making if feel more like July than April. It’s a bit strange.

I (mostly) played hooky today, enjoying lunch on the patio of The Left Bank with my friend Laura. I made phone calls in between our get together, but overall had a relaxing day.

The Left Bank, Santana Row

Yesterday I put the finishing touches on Laura’s birthday gift, a set of greeting cards and gift tags made using the Couture line of paper by Graphic 45.

Now that the birthday girl’s opened her gift, I can give you a little peek.

Graphic 45 cards, vintage trim

These shoes aren’t made for walking: Jet rhinestones by Kaiser Scrapbook, Couture paper by Graphic 45, vintage red seam binding from Green House Supply

Gift tags: Graphic 45 Couture paper and tags, vintage seam binding, Kaiser Scrapbook rhinestones

I trimmed the box and some of the cards with vintage seam binding from my friend Donna’s Antique Row booth. She sells a variety of ephemera with a changing selection, so it’s always fun to go look (and buy).

Box trimmed with vintage seam binding, topped with Graphic 45 Couture

Box detail

In other garden news, I’m still trying to decide what to do with our garden swing. It’s in a sorry state thanks to the nest-building squirrels. I’ll share more about that in another post.

I hope your week is off to a terrific start.

The Island’s Creative Escape: Antiques & Vintage · Arts & Crafts Supply Store · Classes
Donna Boss, Greenhouse Supply: Antique Row
Graphic 45: an award-winning scrapbook and paper crafting company— owned and operated by a mother and her two daughters.

Have you ever popped in to a craft store to get one thing? Then you pay for one thing and you’re quickly on your way?

That’s never happened to me either.

So it goes with my decision to make a handful of Halloween-themed cards. Scrapbook Island is one of those places that holds you in its grasp. You zig and zag, cooing at the beautiful paper and then you end up chatting with one of the creative women on staff. Then someone pops in to buy a spider web stencil, changes her mind, and before you know it, that stencil ends up in your hand basket. Wait a minute. When did I pick up a hand basket? Wasn’t I in here for one thing?

Like a kid in a candy shop, if you’ll pardon the expression, my eyes are bigger than my actual time available. I don’t do much scrapbooking anymore, as my boys now eschew all motherly attention and heaven forbid, photographs. I’m lucky to get a couple of candid shots on Christmas day. Thanks, however, to the talented influence of my sister Sharon and my crafty friends Boomdee, Kristi and Stephanie, I’ve caught the card-making bug.

So on a hot day in late September, I sat near the window and made cards.

I listened to Pandora Radio’s Halloween Party station to get into the right mood. I used my new stencil, old book pages from a vintage shop, and ribbon from the Island. I bought plenty of black paper that day, and a few yards of silky ribbon. After some brief instruction on the virtues of different inks, a small bottle or two came home as well. In the end, I made seven cards and a big ‘ol mess but oh what fun, what fun!

Envelopes and stamps

The post office doesn’t sell Halloween stamps, so I settled on Ray Charles in a bright orange shirt and assorted farmer’s market stamps. No sense making a card and a fancy envelope, only to settle for dull and boring postage. Now to address those cards and get them in the mail.

No-Candy Countdown:

I’m candy-free, 23 days and counting! We can talk about my paper habit in another post.

Pumpkins on Parade:

Or in other words, a parade of pumpkins. Can you believe it?

Pumpkins on Parade

I ran out of daylight, so I harvested these in the dark. Now that the nights are cooler, the plant is closing down. The leaves are turning to brown in some places, powdery with mildew in others.

My mystery plant grew over the edges of the box, while at the same time producing eight pumpkinesque pieces of fruit. Did I mention that it grew without a trace of water at the roots. No signs of squash bugs either. One of my readers suggested a possible hybrid. I wonder if there is a way to find out? Unlike the vines I’m used to, all the fruit formed close to the soil line on short stems. The plant just started to send out vines in the last few weeks. This fruit is hard as a rock and heavy too. I’m just tickled to pieces to see so many of them turn orange. I’m leaving them outside to harden for a few days, unless we get that promised rain.

Gosh I love October. Color me orange with joy.